For
the better part of the last 40 years, policy experts and childrearing
gurus relegated fathers to the parental minor leagues. Dads were seen
as well-intentioned but inept Homer Simpsons who might be able to
teach junior how to swing a baseball bat, but little else.

But
kids see it differently. Mary Kay Shanley’s book, When I Think
About My Father, recites these love-words from Amanda, age 6:
“At the end of the day when I go to bed, Daddy tucks me in. We talk
together about our day. He reads me a story to help me sleep. We pray
together. That is my favorite part.”

Research
confirms with Amanda’s endorsement of fatherhood. It turns out that
kids with hands-on dads have greater levels of self-esteem and social
competence, get higher grades in school, and do better on a broad
range of social and psychological indicators. Even in high-crime,
inner-city neighborhoods, over 90% of children who grow up in two-parent
families avoid becoming delinquents.

Sadly,
government social welfare programs have a dismal track record in this
area. It’s not that they have just ignored the essential role of fathers.
The problem is, they have offered inducements to actually remove dads
from the lives of their kids.

This
pattern can be traced back to the 1960s. Under Lyndon Johnson’s Great
Society, welfare benefits came with a catch: first, kick dad out of
the house. As a result of this exclusionary “man-in-the-house” rule,
the number of children growing up in fatherless homes rose dramatically.

Before
long, people began to notice that poor fathers were “abandoning” their
children. So beginning in 1975, the Congress passed a series of child
support laws that targeted so-called “deadbeat” dads.

The
reforms may have been well-intentioned, but they missed the mark on
one key point: many low-income dads couldn’t pay their child support
because they were on Skid Row. But that fact didn’t stop the federal
Office for Child Support Enforcement, with a budget of $4 billion,
from hounding indigent fathers and sending thousands to debtor’s jail
each year. [Read]

But
the government was not done with its task of dismembering the traditional
family.

In
1994 the Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act, a $1 billion-a-year
feminist windfall that claims to combat domestic violence. One of
VAWA’s tools is the issuance of restraining orders.

The
dirty little secret that feminists never like to admit is that they
have stealthily broadened the scope of violence. For example, the
National Victim Assistance Academy came up with this all-encompassing
definition: “Domestic violence is a pattern of coercive behavior designed
to exert power and control over a person in an intimate relationship
through the use of intimidating, threatening, harmful, or harassing
behavior.” [Read]

As
a result of this definitional sleight-of-hand, “domestic violence
becomes whatever the woman says it is,” according to columnist Phyllis
Schlafly. [Read]

So
when these “battered” mothers seek a restraining order, they also
petition for divorce and custody of the children. Once again, the
kids are left without a father.

The
effects of these federal programs are predictable -- and tragic. In
1960, five million American children lived in fatherless homes. By
1980, that number more than doubled to 11 million. And now, 16 million
children live only with their mothers.

The
National Fatherhood Initiative issued this sobering warning: “Children
who live absent their biological fathers are, on average, at least
two to three times more likely to be poor, to use drugs, to experience
educational, health, emotional, and behavioral problems, to be victims
of child abuse, and to engage in criminal behavior.”

So
consider the 16 million boys and girls who go to bed each night without
getting a bear-hug from daddy, and it’s easy to see why a 1999 Gallup
poll found that 72% of Americans believe that “the physical absence
of the father from the home is the most significant problem facing
America.”

On
Father’s Day, it’s traditional to honor our fathers – those home-grown
heroes who sacrifice their moments of quiet reflection, their comfort,
and even their health to support and protect their families. This
coming Sunday I will remember my own dad, thankful for all the good
times we spent together.

Perhaps
this Father’s Day should also be a day of reckoning. It’s time to
ask, Why does the US taxpayer continue to subsidize government programs,
to the tune of billions of dollars a year, that end up separating
fathers from their families?

Carey Roberts is an analyst and commentator on
political correctness. His best-known work was an exposé on Marxism and
radical feminism. Mr. Roberts’ work has been cited on the Rush Limbaugh
show.

Besides serving as a regular contributor to NewsWithViews.com,
he has published in The Washington Times, LewRockwell.com, RenewAmerica.us,
ifeminists.net, Men’s News Daily, eco.freedom.org, The Federal Observer,
Opinion Editorials, and The Right Report.

Previously, he served on active duty in the Army,
was a professor of psychology, and was a citizen-lobbyist in the US Congress.
In his spare time he admires Norman Rockwell paintings, collects antiques,
and is an avid soccer fan. He now works as an independent researcher and
consultant.